Ranma The Apocalypse
by Raiu Kusanagi
Summary: Ranma/SM/WoD x-over with Gen. Gawl elements. Ranma is a sentient weapons system that fought alongside Beryl during the fall of the Moon Kingdom. Now he's being drawn into a war to save reality itself from the Wyrm.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Insert standard disclaimer here. For further information, listen to "The Disclaimer" on The Offspring's Ixnay On The Hombre album.  
  
  
" " Speech  
Thoughts  
  
  
Ranma - The Apocalypse  
Chapter 1  
By Raiu Kusanagi  
  
  


* * *

  
-Near Kyoto, 1991-  
  


"Please Pop! I don't wanna go down there again!" 

"Quit whining, boy!" Genma Saotome shouted as he threw his son, Ranma, back into a dark pit with a makeshift lid that was currently open. 

Genma slammed the lid shut as Ranma fell to the bottom. The fat, balding martial artist ignored the screams of fear and pain emanating from the bottom of the pit. 

"You'll thank me for this later, Ranma." 

"Oh, he will, will he?" an odd voice asked from behind Genma. "That's about as believable as a rocket scientist accepting a lobotomy from a three-year-old." 

Genma spun around to see an empty lot before him. A moment later, he heard the telltale creak of the pit's lid being opened and the screams abruptly stopped, leaving only a foreboding silence coming from the pit. The bald man turned to see the lid open and nobody nearby. Genma, being Genma, ignored the blaring of his danger senses as he approached the pit. Just as he peered over the edge, a blurry distortion of air shot up out of the pit and brushed against him. Genma was tossed several yards away as if he'd been kicked. 

As Genma slowly stood up, the distortion landed a few feet away from the pit. It stood just over six-and-a-half-feet-tall and had a roughly humanoid shape. Although it was transparent, the area behind it had a barely noticeable grey tint. About where the distortion's chest would be if it were human, Ranma hovered in mid air, curled into a fetal position. The unconscious boy was covered in scratches and cuts, shivering in remembered fear. 

"Be glad I don't kill you this instant, Genma Saotome," the being stated in perfect Japanese. 

Before Genma could reply, a second distortion shot forward from the being and slammed into him, knocking him into a tree. Genma's unconscious body slid to the ground as the being and Ranma faded from view.  
  
* * * *  
  
-Several hours later-  
  


Ranma awoke to see that it was late evening and he was lying in a sleeping bag next to a campfire. When he sat up and looked around, the boy discovered that he was on a beach, the waves hitting the ground not twenty yards away. He also noticed that the scratches he'd gotten from the cats were almost completely healed. 

"I'm glad to see you finally woke up, Ryo," a gruff, gravely voice stated from nearby. 

Ranma slipped out of the bag, leapt to his feet, and was in a defensive stance before he even saw who had spoken. What he saw was an oddly dressed man leaning against a large rock. Ranma tightened his stance slightly and began appraising the man. The man's silvery blue hair hung down past his shoulders, though Ranma couldn't tell how far since the man was sitting down, facing him. A pair of emerald green eyes seemed to stare straight through Ranma while his position prevented Ranma from accurately guaging his height. 

The man wore a black body suit that covered everything except for his arms and head made of a material similar to spandex, but looked to be thicker while still being form-fitting, showing off his lean, muscular frame. Black bindings wound down from his elbows to his hands, covering everything except for his fingers. A thick, navy blue mantle was molded into a single piece of material wrapped around his upper torso, shoulders, and the lower half of his face. Several black runes adorned the chest portion of the mantle. What little of his face Ranma could see gave the appearance of chiseled features. A moment later, a sense of familiarity hit him, as if he had known the man for a long time. 

"Wh-who're you?" 

"You already know the answer to that, Ryo." 

"Why're ya callin' me Ryo?" Ranma asked innocently, his curiosity overwhelming his caution. "My name's Ranma." 

"Is it?" the man asked, his tone of voice making obvious that he was smirking at the boy. 

"Of course!" Ranma snapped defensively, then seemed to rethink his answer. "Um... how come I r'member bein' called Ryo?" 

"You tell me." 

"Damn it, Koji!" Ranma suddenly snapped, his eyes flaring with black energy for a moment. "You know how much I hate it when you talk to me like that!" 

"My, my. Such language from one so young." The man chuckled. "And I go by the name Vahn now. Also, how would you know this isn't how I normally talk? After all, I thought you said you were Ranma, not Ryo. Only Ryo would know that." 

"Huh...? I..." Ranma trailed off as he clutched his head in pain and collapsed on the ground. 

Vahn grimaced slightly as Ranma began moaning in pain and rolling around on the ground, holding his head as if he were suffering from the mother of all migraines. 

Hmmm. Looks like it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would. Good. 

Ranma's moans gradually subsided into snores as the boy lost consciousness. Vahn picked the boy up and slid him back into the sleeping bag he'd originally woken up in.  
  
=flashback=  
  


A tangible darkness engulfed him, numbing his awakening senses. He distantly felt padding pressing against his back. Reaching out, he felt cool metal completely surrounding him, save for a small, circular glass-like substance just level with his face. The metal seemed to be elliptical, almost like an egg. A barely perceptible seam formed a large oval in front of him, almost like a door. 

Panic set it, triggered by the confinement. He began striking at the door with all the force he could muster. The first blow dented the door, but failed to break the seam. Several blows later, the door was torn free of whatever seal, hinges, or latches held it in place. The darkness flowed out of the capsule as he stood up and took in his surroundings. 

He stood in the middle of a field of jagged, icy rocks underneath a black sky dotted with small points of light. Several large spheres of differing colors hung overhead, all splayed about a glowing yellow sphere larger than the rest, smaller spheres circling the larger ones, some more than others. Sensing a presence behind him, he turned around to see a man standing in a capsule quite like his own, the twisted door tossed off to one side. 

Seeing the man made him acutely aware of his own appearance. He stood two human metric units of length tall with wild, shoulder-length black hair and gray-blue eyes, while the other man stood the same height, but with smooth, waist-length silver hair and emerald eyes. Though their suits were nearly identical, the silver-haired man wore a suit that perfectly matched Vahn's bodysuit and mantle, while his black-haired counterpart's mantle was blood red. 

The two men's eyes turned midnight black and their fingers elongated into razor-sharp claws. Half a second later, they lunged at each other, silent snarls on their faces.  
  
* * * *  
  


In another time and place, those same two men hovered nearly two miles above an opulent palace built from pale purple crystal and silver stone. 

"So what now, bro?" The black-haired man asked. 

"What else, Ryo? We kill the Senshi, level the palace, then kill Serenity. She shouldn't have tried to kill Jalith. The fact that she's turned her people into zombie slaves is just a side incentive." 

"And Beryl & Metallia are nothing more than distractions. We take them down as well after Serenity's dead, right?" Ryo grinned savagely at the other man's nod. "They won't even know what hit 'em. None of them." 

"Exactly. So, you wanna level the palace or should I?" 

"I will." Ryo answered without hesitation. "You just make sure you save Saturn. I'm not taking that place down till she's out. Got it, Koji?" 

"Not a problem. Let's go." 

The two men shot down toward the palace, black auras forming around them to mask them from sight until it was too late.  
  
=end flashback=  
  


When Ranma awakened again, the sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon. He looked around to see Vahn leaning against the same rock as before, only now he was facing the sunrise. 

"Awake again, I see." Vahn smirked. "Took you long enough." 

"Yeah, yeah." Ranma grumbled as he stood up and stretched, the tone of his voice more mature than it had been the previous night. "So, what happened? Why am I a kid?" 

"You don't remember the fall of the Moon Kingdom?" Vahn asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm almost surprised. I'd figured that'd be the first thing you remembered." 

"I remember us planning the attack on Serenity's Palace - all thirty seconds of it - but not much more." 

"Hmmm. It's rather inconvenient that you don't remember more than that. How much do you remember?" 

"I dunno for sure, but I'd say just a little over half my life is missing. Pretty damn spotty, too. So how long will it take for me to regain my memories?" 

"Before I answer that, I've got a question for you. Do you want to go back to being Ryo or do you want to live what your life would have been as Ranma?" 

"I'll take my old life over this one any day." Ranma grimaced. "My father just tried to kill me. I don't even want to know what my mother is like if she would allow that asshole to take her only son away from her for a decade or more." Ranma brightened as he said that. "Hey! I've got photographic recall again! Hot damn!" 

Vahn smirked at Ranma. 

"Well, then. We'll have to wait for your memories to return on their own. As for everything else, I can transfer enough Animus into your body to reconfigure it to what it used to be. I've still got the template of your body I created before you took down Serenity." 

"Let's get on with it, then." Ranma smirked cockily. "I wanna get back to kickin' your ass again." 

"By the way, you'll probably experience some... minor discomfort," Vahn stated as he stood up, towering over the boy at six-feet-tall. 

"Big deal." 

Vahn grinned and placed his fingertips against Ranma's forehead. 

"Beginning Animus transfer." Vahn stated, then paused for a few seconds. "Transfer complete." 

Ranma fell to the ground as soon as Vahn removed his fingertips, his body convulsing as if going through epileptic seizures. The boy's already tattered clothing stretched and was quickly torn apart as Ranma's body rapidly grew into that of a young man's in less than a minute. When the convulsion's ceased and Ranma quieted, he lay panting for several minutes before standing. 

Ranma stood and turned to Vahn, tendrils of black smoke wrapping around the now-eighteen-year-old man as the outline of his body blurred briefly. The tendrils multiplied until they covered almost all of Ranma's body, then condensed into an outfit identical to Vahn's. The only difference was that the mantle was blood red instead of navy blue. Ranma now stood six-feet-tall with wild black hair and stormy gray-blue eyes. Though he had a lean, wiry frame, an intangible aura of confidence and strength surrounded him. 

"Minor discomfort, my ass. Ya shoulda told me I'd go through goddamn seizures, ya filthy bastard." Ranma stated bluntly, though without malice. "I will get you back for this, you know." 

"I know." Vahn answered, staring levelly at Ranma. "I can't wait to see just what you try." 

"Don't hold your breath." Ranma smirked. "I'll take my own sweet time with my revenge. So what do we do now?" 

"I'll explain in a moment. First off, though, what name are you going to use? Ryo or Ranma Saotome?" 

"Ranma." The young man replied without hesitation. "The name fits me better than my old one did. After all, it's Japanese for anarchy and chaos. I think I'll use... Orochi as a family name. I'd rather not be associated with the Saotomes anymore." 

"Ranma Orochi..." Vahn mused, "chaotic serpent. You're right, it suits you much better." 

"You'll get your's in good time, I assure you." Ranma hissed, then smiled. "Now then, what's up?" 

"Long story, old friend, long story. Let's go somewhere else, first. The energy release by your transformation might have attracted some unwanted attention." 

With that, Vahn placed his hand on Ranma's shoulder, causing both men to fade into thin air.  
  
* * * *  
TBC...  
* * * *  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
Well, there's the first chapter. Not much, but I don't like trying to make chapters a set length. Too damn tedious. Ranma's memories as well as his relationship with Vahn will be explained in the next or later chapters. For those of you that got confused by the "mantle" thing, it's a sort of a short cloak without a hood. The shelf that goes over a fireplace is spelled mantel.  
  
The revision was fairly minor, just clearing up a few things I wasn't completely satisfied with and altering their reason for siding with Beryl. Ranma Orochi just sounds more like an actual name than Ranma Metsuretsu, which could be mistaken as more of a description or title.  
  
C&C is welcomed and flames will simply be returned to the sender, ignored, or disposed of. Constructive criticism is good, "U suk big tim" & the like are merely annoying and pointless. 


	2. Announcement

Dear God, but I'm slow when it comes to putting out announcements, aren't I?br  
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Anyway, in case you haven't seen my profile page, I'll no longer be updating my fics on fanfiction.net. However, I've provided a link to my new website on my profile page.br  
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You can get to my site from there or by clicking here.br  
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- Raiu 


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